Pale magical lights cast deep shadows across Prince Mathias's perfectly sculpted features. After confirming with a sharp gaze that no one was around, he lightly grabbed my arm and quickly pulled me into a dim alcove at the end of the corridor.

  His touch wasn't rough, but his grip was shockingly cold and carried an undeniable sense of urgency. The prince - who usually stood at the center of the academy flashing a flawless smile, looking exactly like a capture target straight out of an "otome game" - now wore a deeply troubled, incredibly stressed expression. Up close, faint dark circles shadowed his eyes, and his breathing was slightly ragged. And wait a minute—how did a male student even get into the heavily guarded girls' dormitory at this hour? Did he use a high-tier royal stealth artifact, or did he just bribe the matrons with his authority?

  Prince Mathias was currently being raised by the Church as the next-generation Hero in preparation for the demons' return. Why was he cornering a lowly country noble transfer student against a wall with such a serious look on his face?

  "Your Highness...? Whatever is the matter?"

  I kicked my bewildered acting into high gear, widening my already large eyes and letting out a trembling voice.

  "Miss Nyx Shadowmare. I will get straight to the point," Mathias said in a low, hoarse voice, staring straight into my eyes. "For the next week, no, two weeks… I need you to act with the utmost caution. Do not, under any circumstances, walk around alone at night."

  "Huh...? What do you mean by that...?"

  I covered my mouth with both hands and pretended to gasp in fear.

  Inside, however, I was panicking for an entirely different reason, screaming a massive retort in my head.

  No, no, no! If you're talking about that professional assassin who targeted me while I was walking alone at night, I literally just lopped their head off with my own hands and stuffed their corpse into the depths of my [Shadow Inventory]!?

  Right now, the prince furrowing his brows so seriously in front of me, looking like he wants nothing more than to "protect" me, doesn't have the slightest clue that the person he's trying to shield is an apocalyptic monster who could pulverize a dungeon boss barehanded in minutes.

  "Your Highness, I don't understand at all..." I firmly readjusted my mask of a bewildered, innocent girl. "Are you saying a dangerous beast has wandered into the academy?"

  "...Something much more troublesome than a beast. Right now, dangerous political currents are swirling within the academy. A transfer student like you, who doesn't belong to any specific faction, could get caught up in it."

  "P-political currents?" I tilted my head, clutching my skirt like a frightened rabbit. "But I haven't done anything wrong, Your Highness! Is someone angry with me?"

  He ran a hand through his perfectly styled blond hair, looking even more stressed. "It is not about right or wrong, Miss Shadowmere. It is about leverage."

  "Leverage...?"

  "Just... trust me." He stepped a fraction closer, lowering his voice. "I cannot protect everyone. And those who move in the shadows do not care if you are innocent."

  Mathias chose his words carefully, using a highly cryptic expression. It clicked for me instantly. The reason he couldn't explicitly say an assassin has been unleashed was because the mastermind who hired them was his fiancée, Penelope Ashworth. Because it involved a political marriage with her family—a line of powerful traditionalist nobles—no matter if he was a prince, he probably couldn't directly accuse her in a public setting.

  Trying to draw out his true intentions and see how much he knew, I cast out a fishing line to vaguely probe his motives.

  "Dangerous political currents... Does that refer to the harassment Enid and I have been receiving lately from the traditionalist faction?" I asked timidly, feigning innocence. "Or am I being targeted because I'm close to Enid...?"

  Enid was a mere commoner, yet a girl burdened with the destiny of becoming the future Saint. The prince paying special attention to her and helping her had, as a result, bought Penelope's jealousy and rage, making Enid (and me, her close friend) a target. It was a classic "otome game" romance setup. Did the prince just want to protect his first love and her friend from schoolyard bullying?

  However, to my seemingly pure question, Mathias neither confirmed nor denied it; instead, he hesitated with an expression full of bitter anguish.

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  "...Of course, I cannot overlook the unfair treatment the two of you are facing. But that is not all," he sighed deeply, muttering as if trying to convince himself. "This is not a matter that ends with simple bullying among students or jealousy. It's much deeper... a problem that could shake the very stability of the Kingdom."

  The stability of the Kingdom.

  The moment I heard those words, a chill ran down my spine. Beneath my mask of the perfectly terrified young lady, my thoughts began to spin rapidly.

  I thought this was just an extension of a school romance. But could the chessboard he was looking at be far more massive than I had imagined?

  The recent intel I heard from Mika in the library flashed through my mind, but I quickly reined in my racing thoughts. No, it was too much of a leap to assume Mathias knew about the deepest, darkest secrets like the true identity of Duke Andras. It was far more likely he was looking at the immediate political chessboard. The traditionalist faction was making aggressive, underhanded moves to completely crush the moderate Montclair faction and consolidate their power over the academy and the kingdom. Could Prince Mathias have already realized the sheer scale of this impending political purge? Even without knowing the demonic forces pulling the strings from the absolute shadows, he was clearly sensing the stench of a massive, bloody power struggle secretly eating away at the core of the country.

  Furthermore, there was the heavy burden surrounding Enid. I already knew the painful truth about her destiny, but Mathias was deeply tied to the same institution targeting her. Raised by the Church as the next Hero to fight in the future, it was highly unlikely that he was completely unaware of their secret maneuvers or how ruthlessly they operated behind closed doors.

  Could it be... is this guy already acting as the future "Hero," playing a massive game of political chess that involves the entire Kingdom?

  I quietly re-examined Mathias's profile. He wasn't just some sweet, gentle prince from an otome game. He was a terrifyingly capable statesman, nearly crushed by an overwhelmingly heavy sense of responsibility, yet trying to fight all alone against the true impending threat to the Kingdom's future, unaware that said threat was the demonic conspiracy I was unintentionally sitting at the top of.

  "...I will take Your Highness's warning to heart. I will never walk around alone at night."

  I bowed deeply. If I felt like it, I could blow away the hostile forces he was so wary of with the flick of a finger, but of course, I couldn't exactly tell him that.

  "I'm sorry for making you anxious. But it is to protect you." Mathias smiled, looking slightly relieved, before turning his sharp gaze back to his surroundings and disappearing into the darkness of the night.

  I watched him until he was out of sight, letting out a quiet breath.

  After finishing that terribly nerve-wracking standing conversation with Prince Mathias, I finally arrived in front of my own room, Room 347.

  The moment I laid my hand on the heavy wooden doorknob, I felt the sheer weight of today's myriad of abnormal events come crashing down on my shoulders.

  I literally possess a powerful demon body. I shouldn't be feeling almost any physical fatigue, yet my mental fatigue gauge had long since blown past zero.

  "I'm back..."

  Pushing open the heavy door and stepping inside, a strangely profound silence spread out before me.

  The only person in the room was Maribel. She sat with her back perfectly straight in the center of her flawlessly optimized study space, completely immersed in a deep, highly efficient magical meditation. Faint mana particles drifted rhythmically around her, and even the pace of her breathing seemed thoroughly calculated.

  I glanced around the room, but Freya was nowhere to be seen.

  "Maribel," I asked, keeping my voice slightly lowered as I took off my shoes so as not to disturb her meditation. "Where's Freya? Is she not back yet?"

  Maribel's eyebrow twitched, and she slowly opened her eyes. Her pupils held a clear irritation at having her concentration disrupted.

  "I have no idea," Maribel replied coldly and clinically. "She has been absent ever since I entered my meditation cycle to optimize the magical efficiency of this room. I presume she's still out in the night gardens or somewhere, engaging in some illogical and highly inefficient communion with nature?"

  "I see... Thanks."

  It was her usual thorny attitude, but right now, even her unwavering arrogance and obsession with efficiency felt like a somewhat comforting slice of "normalcy." Compared to assassinations and plots to overthrow the state, a roommate's cold shoulder is the very symbol of a peaceful student life. Still, I glanced at Freya's empty bed. Usually, my first instinct would be to panic and scour the academy grounds looking for her. But today, my brain was completely numb. She's an elf, she's probably just getting some fresh air and talking to a tree or taking a nap on a branch somewhere, I rationalized to myself.

  Having no energy left to continue the conversation or worry anymore, I collapsed onto my bed.

  As I sank into the soft mattress, I felt the taut string of tension finally snap. Today was, without a doubt, the craziest, most mentally exhausting day of my long yet short life.

  The machinations of the Demon Generals, Enid's cruel destiny, Prince Mathias's warning, and my own steadily fading human morals. The problems I had to solve were piling up like a mountain, and surely new troubles would be waiting for me tomorrow.

  But for now, that was fine.

  I closed my eyes. In the quiet room, only the faint sound of Maribel's rhythmic, meditative breathing could be heard. It acted as a strange lullaby, pulling my consciousness away.

  No matter what state the world is in tomorrow, for now, I will just sleep. Escaping from all the conspiracies and chaos, I finally drifted into a peaceful slumber at the end of this endlessly long day.

  here.